


naked & afraid

by nymja



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reality Show, AxG Week, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Getting Back Together, Naked and Afraid AU, Wilderness Survival, Working with the Ex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 08:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20240218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nymja/pseuds/nymja
Summary: Arya signed up for a survivalist reality show because she wanted to try something new. Something different.Something that didn't involve being stranded in a jungle with her ex-boyfriend. Naked. For three weeks.





	naked & afraid

**Author's Note:**

> for axg week! "Just get naked." i know it's a dick move to do a WIP for these things but this got really long and i dont think i'll finish it by the end of the week so :'| forgive me.

“YOU STUPID BULL!” A young, naked woman screams, holding tightly onto a machete.

“AT LEAST I KNOW HOW _ TREES _ WORK!” An equally naked man yells back, kicking at the ground angrily and striking a large rock with his bare foot. “SON OF A- _ [a long beep]! _”

\--

_ Two strangers. _ _  
_ _ One man and one woman, both experienced survivalists, have chosen to put their skills to the ultimate test. They have no water, no food, and no clothes. Their challenge is to survive for 21 days, knowing that the human body can only live for three days without water, and begins to shut down after three weeks without food. This is the Everest of survival challenges. Can a man and woman survive alone in the wilderness....NAKED AND AFRAID? _

\--

_ Old Valyria. Located on the eastern side of Essos, this geographic area is known for its dormant volcanoes. The eruptions over 500 years ago have resulted in fertile soil, supporting a jungle terrain and thriving tropical ecosystem. With severe humidity and multiple river banks, Old Valyria is home to a wide variety of fauna, including venomous snakes, insects, and deadly spiders. Flora is not much better, with several rashvines and poisonous plants. It is a difficult environment for even the most experienced survivalists. _

_ Gendry Waters is a 27-year-old from Flea Bottom, Crownlands. We asked what drew him to NAKED AND AFRAID: _

Gendry shrugs. “You get money afterwards.”

“My name is Gendry. That’s all I feel like telling you.”

\--

_ Arya Stark is a 22-year-old survival enthusiast from Winterfell, Nor_ _thern Territories. In her spare time, she practices archery and rock-climbing. We asked if she felt prepared for the unique challenges she’ll face during NAKED AND AFRAID: _

Arya grins at the camera. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ve got five brothers, a sister, and a pet wolf named Nymeria. I teach Water Dancing at the Yes Today Sports Academy. Once, I spent two weeks camping outside the Wall. I think I’m ready for anything after that. My partner better keep up. I don’t like dead weight.”

\--

_ Before the challenge was filmed, our executive producer Jorah Mormont and survivalist consultant Sandor Clegane were sent to examine the location one last time. During production, Jorah Mormont was bitten by the deadly Dornish Serpent, resulting in a venomous strike that left scarring over his chest and arm--commonly referred to as Greyscale. After several surgeries, Jorah barely escaped with his life. _

_ When asked for comment on the incident, Sandor Clegane replied: “He was being a stupid ****, what do you expect?” _

_ Due to the high population of venomous serpents in the filming location, we asked contestants if they would like to opt-out of the challenge. Arya enthusiastically agreed to keep participating. After asking to be reminded of the amount of prize money, Gendry more reluctantly decided to continue. _

_ \-- _

Gendry sits in a white SUV, looking at the camera with a scowl. The on-site cameraman, known in the industry as Hot Pie, gives a hesitant smile back.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Hot Pie asks.. 

Gendry’s face screws up as he thinks, looking as though he’s in pain. “I guess so.” 

“Want to comment for the camera about being naked?”

“Why do I need to talk about that?”

“Probably because it’s in the title and all.”

He crosses his arms and glares. “Been naked before.”

“Any further comment?”

“No. Leave me alone.”

“Don’t think I can. Contractually, I mean.”

The SUV pulls to a stop. Already Gendry can feel the humidity and swears under his breath. Everyone in the vehicle looks at him expectantly and he sighs, stepping out. Quickly, he takes off his trainers, sweats, and t-shirt. He hesitates a moment before pulling off his boxers, then shimmies out of them. Awkwardly, he bunches up his sweats and holds them in front of his dick. 

“Can’t do that,” Hot Pie reminds him, focusing the camera.

Gendry narrows his eyes. “For fuck’s sake.”

“Try not to swear so much, costs a lot of money to edit that out.”

“Fuck you, you fucking fuck.”

Hot Pie pouts. “No need to be all mean about it.”

\--

Arya’s face and hands are pressed up against the window, her leg bobbing up and down in excitement. 

“A girl seeks adventure,” her cameraman says with what she thinks is amusement. Honestly, it’s been hard to get a read on him.

“Almost no one goes to Old Valyria anymore,” she says. “Jon, my brother’s, going to be so jealous.” Smiling, she swats Jaqen’s leg and points out the window. “That’s where Visenya camped out for three months. She made an irrigation system and everything-”

She goes on as the SUV reaches their destination, practically vibrating with enthusiasm as the vehicle pulls up. In the distance, she sees a matching one and smiles at that, too. This is going to be a hard test of her survivalist skills, but she’s ready.

Arya hops out of the SUV, shrugging off her yoga pants and track jacket. 

Jaqen nods, stepping out of the vehicle after her. “A girl lacks clothing. A girl is ready.”

She furrows her brows. “It’s Arya, actually.”

Her cameraman gestures. “Out here, a girl is no one.”

Hesitantly, Arya nods. She _ thinks _he’s making a point. “So, where do I go?”

He points at a small entryway in the jungle, and she nods. Confidently, Arya grabs a stick that’s about the size of a quarterstaff, and walks into the foliage.

\--

Gendry doesn’t like bugs. Or humidity. Or being outside a whole lot. So as he makes his way to meet his teammate, he grumbles to himself.

Hot Pie prompts him behind the camera. “So are you excited to meet your partner?”

“Not really.”

“Any hopes on what she’ll be like?”

He frowns deeply. “Not one of those rich girls.”

\--

“And what does a girl expect from her partner?”

Arya rolls her eyes. “Not a city boy, for the love of Gods.”

\--

Arya reaches the marker first, and so she scans the treeline as she waits for her partner. Mentally, she starts to build her ideal partner for a wilderness excursion, then decides it would just be Jon. Eventually, the foliage begins to rattle and bend, and she hears heavy, lumbering footsteps.

Arya frowns. Not a hunter, then.

The man is tall enough that his face gets lost in the vines, but she sees his body well enough. He’s big, muscular. One of his arms swats uselessly at the vines while the other covers his dick. There’s a swear, and suddenly the man lifts both arms to swat at something, and-

Arya’s eyes narrow, her head tilts in disbelief. “-Gendry?”

The man stops walking. Fuck. It’s Gendry.

“...Arya?”

She puts her hands on her waist, looking up. “Yeah. It’s me.”

“A girl knows her partner?” Jaqen asks, moving so he can get a close-up of her reaction. She’s biting the inside of her cheek, brows furrowed.

“Yes. A girl does.”

In the distance, there’s a muddled, heated conversation between Gendry and whoever his cameraman is. They’re too far away to hear everything, but Arya catches a few words here and there:

“-what the hell-”  
“-hot pie-”  
“-no one said-”  
“-FUCK! OFF! HOT! PIE!” 

Arya has no idea what hot pie is a euphemism for, and doesn’t want to know. Instead she just starts tapping her foot on the ground, crossing her arms. 

“Are you coming or not?” She yells.

A long pause. Eventually, Gendry shuffles fully out of the foliage. He’s grumbling and has his gaze trained on the ground like a child caught misbehaving. His ears are bright red. Behind him, his cameraman waves at her enthusiastically, and she gives a slightly less enthusiastic one back.

“I didn’t know you’d be on this thing,” he mutters. “Not that it matters. Because I can go where I want to.”

Arya lets go of a long, long sigh as she sees her future for the next 21 days.

\--

_ Shit, _ Gendry thinks. _ Shit, it’s Arya. Gods damned it. _

He sneaks another peek at her tits, hoping she doesn’t notice.

\--

Arya glares. Five seconds in, and she’s already caught him looking at her boobs. Twice. 

\--

_ Normally on NAKED AND AFRAID, contestants are complete strangers. Based on the initial meeting, our producers asked Gendry for clarification on the nature of their relationship: _

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gendry says, one hand still covering his dick.

_ Following this, the same question was posed to Arya: _

“We’ve been friends since childhood. Last year, we slept together one time and he proposed immediately after. We haven’t talked since.”

_ When producers asked Gendry to verify: _

“It’s not your business.” He scowls. “And it wasn’t _ immediately _after. There was a whole day!” 

_ After a consultation with the production team, as well as the contestants, it was decided that any benefit of a prior relationship was negated by the current friction, and Gendry and Arya were allowed to continue with the challenge. _

\--

_ Gendry and Arya are each allowed one survival item from the outside world. _

“What’d you bring?” Arya asks, hoping it’s something useful.

“Hammer,” he grunts.

“What the hell are we going to use a hammer for?”

“I don’t know. Building things.”

“Things like _ what. _We don’t even have nails!”

Gendry scowls. “Well what did _ you _bring?”

Arya pulls out a machete.

“...holy shit,” Gendry whispers.

“Please stop swearing,” Hot Pie reminds him.

\--

_ A small crew will capture the 21-day journey, with clear instruction not to intervene unless there is a medical emergency. In addition, Gendry and Arya are provided with handheld cameras to document their own experiences. _

“How do you even read this thing?” Gendry grumbles, pulling another item out of their canvas bags.

_ ...Gendry and Arya were also given a paper map, showing jungles, rivers, and other notable landmarks. They will need to use the sun to navigate . First, they must find a suitable place to camp near a pre-designated location by a river. This will give them a safe place for shelter, provide water, and opportunities to gather food. At the end of their 21 days, they face a grueling journey, battling terrain to a waterfall several miles downstream. This will lead them to their extraction point on top of a 400 ft. cliff. _

“Have you ever done anything like this at all?” Arya mutters, taking the map from his hand and flipping it so it’s no longer upside down. 

“Of course I have,” he huffs.

\--

_ As part of their selection for the program, Gendry and Arya have undergone rigorous psychological and survival testing. Their overall assessment has been evaluated by experts according to three categories: Skills, Experience, and Mental. _

_ For Gendry, growing up in Flea Bottom indicates survival instinct, but his intolerance of human beings, a general hatred of the outdoors, and an unwillingness to eat bugs will likely be significant obstacles. _

_ Arya is an experienced survivalist, having explored beyond the Wall in the Northern Territories. Trained in several fighting styles, she has strong fortitude. However, her short temper and poor geographic aptitude will present their own challenges. _

_ Both Gendry and Arya were assigned an initial Primitive Survival Rating, or PSR. _

_ Gendry’s Primitive Survival Rating is set at 3.7 on a 10-point scale. _

_ Arya’s is 8.4. _

_ After learning they were ex-lovers, the show has decided to drop both PSR’s down -0.5, placing Gendry at 3.2, and Arya at 7.9. _

\--

“Do we start now?” Gendry demands, as if rushing this will make 21 days go by faster. He’s holding his hammer in front of his dick, now. It’s not as effective as the sweatpants or the hand. But he doesn’t want it just. Hanging out there. Especially now that Arya’s here. Even though she’s seen it before. But she doesn’t get to see it again! Unless she wants. No! Not even then.

Jaqen shakes his head. “A show has a crew.”

Gendry narrows his eyes at him. 

As if on a producer-induced cue, the vines to their side part, and everyone turns as two people step out of it. The first has curly brown hair, with mud streaks under her eyes. The second has flaming red hair and one of those sound sticks in her hand that Gendry doesn’t know the name of.

“Who’re you?”

The redhead smiles, showing a gap between her front teeth. “Ygritte. I’m the sound tech.”

The woman next to her nods, looking more subdued. “I’m Meera, your emergency medic.”

Gendry’s gaze falls onto a large bag that’s about the size of Hot Pie. Meera has it slung over her shoulders like she does this all the time. “What’s all that for?” 

Meera takes an inhale: “Treatment for poison, infection, sepsis-”

“_ Sepsis _?”

“-amputation, sunburns, dehydration, gashes, jaguar repellent-”

Gendry, for his own state of mind, tunes her out after she says the word “piranha.” 

“-and poison ivy.”

Arya takes all this in with a matter-of-fact nod, then turns to Ygritte. “When did you get here?”

“Oh,” Ygritte says, scratching her cheek. “Been here all week.”

“What?” Arya looks her up and down. She seems right at home in the jungle, wearing thin, breathable fabrics that cover most of her skin. Avoiding bugs, most likely. 

Gendry glares up the sky. What the hell did he sign up for?

He stands that way for a moment, before his eyes have a mind of their own, going back to Arya’s tits-

She picks up a rotted coconut and throws it at his head as hard as she can. Gendry swears, the heel of his hand pressed against his forehead, which already has a bump, red and circle-shaped.

\--

“What does a girl think of a boy?” Jaqen asks.

“He’s a moron,” Arya says, dead serious. Then she relents. “Strong, though. Can probably lift logs or rocks if we need it.”

\--

“So is she your girlfriend?” Hot Pie asks Gendry.

“What? No. Go away.”

“She’s pretty,” Hot Pie continues.

Gendry glares. Hot Pie smiles, oblivious.  
  


**DAY ONE.** **  
** **\--**

“We could probably eat that, right?”

“That’s a rock.”

“What if we...boiled it, or something.”

“Boiled. A rock.”

“At least I’m trying to think of something!”

Arya huffs in annoyance, turning around to face him. His eyes dart guiltily up. “Look. Food doesn’t matter right now. First we need water and shelter.” She narrows her eyes. “Have you even _ seen _this show?”

“No,” he admits, frowning.

“Why would you go on a show you’ve never seen?”

“It pays!” 

Arya rolls her eyes. Then, she takes a breath and forces patience into her tone. If they’re going to get through the next 21 days, they can’t be screaming at each other the whole time. “Look, we’ll figure this out. I can hunt. Can you make a fire?”

Gendry shakes his head. “Probably not, no.” 

“Okay. What can you do?”

His face wrinkles up. “Could probably do the shelter.”

“That’s good.” 

A long silence stretches. Eventually Arya’s gaze lands on him again.

“Are you going to be okay for this?” She asks softly.

He stares at her. And for a second his throat feels a little tight, but he just grunts and that’s the end of that.

\--

“That could be food.”

“...are you pointing at a tree?”

“Just keeping options open.”

\--

It’s Gendry’s idea to insulate their makeshift lean-to with rocks, in order to keep the heat in and protect the fire while they sleep. While he starts gathering stones, Arya bends over a branch she split, using a stick to try and drill out a fire in it. 

Gendry’s arms and abs flex everytime he lifts, and Arya tells herself to stay focused on the ember she’s trying to get going. Sweat starts to bead onto her brow as she spins the makeshift dowel as fast as she can, arms and shoulders tense with the strain of having to make it move fast enough to get smoke.

“Shelter looks a little small, doesn’t it?” He asks above her head.

“We want to be close for body heat,” she says without much concern, swearing as the drilling technique doesn’t yield any flame.

Gendry coughs. “You mean, like…”

“Like what?”

He glares at the ground. “I’m going to get more rocks.”

If Arya were looking up, she’d see that they’re surrounded by stones. But she doesn’t. “Sure, stay within shouting distance.”

\--

Gendry puts his hands on his hips, glaring at the canopy of vines and trees. “How the fuck did this happen?”

“Casting decision, I’d think,” Hot Pie says cheerfully, munching on a fucking Honey Bun. 

“I’m trying to have a moment,” Gendry mutters.

“Oh, right. Hold on, I’ll get Ygritte for better sound-”

“What? No!”

Ygritte bursts through the trees, extending out the boom overhead. “You think it’s easier, knowin’ she’s already seen your dick?”

“Fuck off!” 

“That’s a no, innit?”

Hot Pie makes obnoxious, smacking sounds as he consumes his pastry. “Seems like a no.”

\--

_ Nightfall, and the temperature of the Valyria jungle drops a startling 20 degrees. Unable to successfully make fire, Gendry and Arya are forced to rely on physical proximity for warmth. _

“Stop squirming,” Arya mutters, laying on her side. The body next to hers goes stock-still.

“I’m not.”

She sighs. They’re laying back-to-back, and the cold is still miserable. Arya’s mad at herself all over for not being able to get the fire going. “Gendry. It’s fine. Just go to sleep.”

“I am sleeping.”

“You are not.”

“Shut up.”

They lay there for a long time. Gendry’s entire body is tense and uncomfortable. The dirt’s cold and uneven underneath him, and there’s bugs that are starting to bite. He knew this was going to suck, but knowing and experiencing are two different things.

“Arya?”

“Yeah?”

A thousand words run through his mind-- like ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I missed you’ or ‘I’m still upset.’

He sighs, bringing his knees up to his chest to ward off the cold. “...night.”

Quietly: “Good night.”


End file.
